The Government has declared on Tuesday the territories affected by a total of 211 catastrophic episodes, mostly due to forest fires, which have occurred between March 31 and July 27, 2026, and have caused damage in regions of fourteen autonomous communities, including Catalonia, as areas affected by a civil protection emergency. This declaration includes the current fires in the Community of Madrid and the provinces of Ávila and Toledo that prompted the declaration of a national interest emergency on July 23, the first time this decision has been made in emergencies derived from forest fires. Also the one recorded in the municipality of Vall d’Uixó in Castellón.
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This was indicated by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who appeared after the Council of Ministers, and who showed the latest data: so far this year more than 170,000 hectares have burned, six times more than the area devastated at this time last year. “And there is still half the summer left, August and September remain,” he said. With this declaration, the aid system is launched, which will be expanded depending on the official damage assessment.
The Council of Ministers’ agreement also includes the area affected by the Los Gallardos fire, in the province of Almería, which has been one of the most serious episodes of the period, due to its personal and material consequences, with thirteen people deceased.
This aid is intended to alleviate personal damage, material damage to housing and belongings; industry and services
The agreement already includes a series of aids that those affected can request from the moment the emergency occurred and whose management corresponds to the Ministry of the Interior.
This aid is intended to alleviate personal damage; material damage to housing and belongings; expenses of local corporations; industrial, commercial and service establishments, as well as to subsidize individuals or legal entities that have provided personal services and goods to respond to the consequences of the emergency.
It is also foreseen that an exemption from the fees of the Autonomous Traffic Headquarters (duplicates of circulation or driving permits, as well as deregistration of damaged vehicles) and for the issuance of the DNI may be approved.
The declaration of an area affected by a civil protection emergency also opens the way for other government departments to enable other aids within their areas of competence, which may be the following:
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Tax benefits: The Ministry of Finance will specify the exemption in the Real Estate Tax quota and the reduction in the Economic Activities Tax quota. As usual, aid for personal damage will be exempt from Personal Income Tax.
Labor and Social Security measures: The Ministries of Labor and Social Economy and of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration may develop labor measures and Social Security contribution discounts and exemptions.
Aid to local corporations: The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory will grant aid, up to 50 percent, to projects carried out by local entities to repair municipal infrastructures, facilities, and equipment.
Damage to public infrastructures and public domain: All ministries, within their areas of competence, may declare a special action zone, as well as the emergency of works to repair damage caused to publicly owned infrastructures.
Outside the temporal scope of the agreement, the Ministry of the Interior includes the episode of strong winds recorded in Catalonia due to the storm “Marta,” reported to the National Emergency Center (CENEM) on February 9, following the activation of the Special Emergency Plan for wind risk in Catalonia. This event had not been included in the two agreements declaring areas severely affected by a civil protection emergency approved on February 10 and April 7.
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